(Minghui.org) A woman in Tangshan City, Hebei Province was arrested again for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a mind and body improvement system currently being persecuted in China.
Police broke into Ms. Li Xinhua's home at around 1:00 a.m. on May 13, 2019 after being tipped that she had hung a Falun Gong banner the day before. Her home was ransacked for the fifth time since the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999.
Ms. Li is being held in Tangshan First Detention Center at the time of this writing. Her husband, Mr. Meng Fanquan, also a Falun Gong practitioner, has to endure the involuntary separation from his wife again, having been released from detention for his faith less than four years ago.
Below is a snapshot of what the couple has suffered in the past two decades, for upholding their faith in Falun Gong.
Wife's Health Restored by Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Li, 56, graduated from one of the best universities in Hebei Province, Hebei Polytechnic University. She was an engineer at Qingyuan Environmental Control Equipment. Her husband, Mr. Meng, was a teacher at Hebei Technical Institute Light Industry Branch. They both later lost their jobs because they practiced Falun Gong.
Ms. Li was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid in 1994, caused due to pressure from work and a strained relationship with her mother-in-law. Despite all the medicines she took, she became severely underweight and fatigued, and suffered frequent palpitations.
Mr. Meng introduced Ms. Li to Falun Gong in 1995. A month after she watched the lectures and learned the exercises, she stopped taking the thyroid medicines. She gradually gained weight and her health improved.
Son Bullied For Parents' Plight
Mr. Meng was arrested in Beijing in September 1999, where he was appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong. His rib was broken during the arrest. He was held in the Lubei Police Department for 15 days and three months, then sent to a detention center. Ms. Li struggled to care for their 5-year-old son alone and visit her husband in detention every month.
Ms. Li and Mr. Meng left their home in summer 2000 to avoid police harassment. They were later arrested in separate events and sent to Tangshan First Detention Center, leaving their 7-year-old behind. The child had to live with his grandmother in a village, where he was often bullied by classmates, prompted by the stigma generated by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda vilifying Falun Gong.
Both Husband and Wife Sent to Forced Labor Camps
Just prior to the New Year in 2001, Ms. Li was arbitrarily given three years in Zhaozhuang Forced Labor Camp and Mr. Meng was sent to Hehuakeng Forced Labor Camp for a year.
Ms. Li went on a hunger strike in the labor camp to protest the persecution. When she fell in critical condition, the authorities asked her brother-in-law to pick her up from the hospital. After she recovered, fearing the persecution, her brother-in-law cooperated with the forced labor camp and sent her back.
After Mr. Meng was released in November 2001, he wrote a letter to Lubei Police Station, stating that there wasn’t anything wrong with his practice and that the persecution was wrong. He was consequently arrested in May 2002 and locked in a brainwashing center for a year and a half.
Ms. Li was released in summer 2003, and Mr. Meng was released at the end of the same year.
Husband Tortured Seven Years in Prison
Mr. Meng was arrested at work on April 17, 2006. The officers took his key, ransacked their, home and confiscated their belongings. He was tried in September and sentenced to a seven-year prison term in October by a Lubei Court judge.
While Mr. Meng was in Jidong Prison, a guard burned and disfigured his face with a high-voltage electric baton. He also lost his position with the university. He was released on April 18, 2013.
Within less than a month of his release, the local police ransacked his home, on May 23, 2013. The police confiscated their personal belongings and detained Mr. Meng for ten days.
Dozens of police broke into Ms. Li’s home on the morning of March 13, 2014 while the couple wasn’t present. Ms. Li’s 93-year-old mother watched the police ransack and take away their belongings while on her sick bed. That day Mr. Meng was arrested, leaving Ms. Li with an elderly mother and their young child.
Mr. Meng was tortured in the Tangshan First Detention Center for 16 months before being released on July 2, 2015.
Related reports:
Give My Dad Back to Me - Diary of Mr. Meng Fanquan's Son
Practitioner Mr. Meng Fanquan Suffers Torture-Induced Mental Disorder
College Teacher Mr. Meng Fanquan from Hebei Polytechnic University Was Arrested and Tried
Ongoing Persecution of Mr. Meng Fanquan
College Instructor Mr. Meng Fanquan Arrested Again after More Than Ten Years in Prison
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